Tensions ran high today on Loose Women as the panel debated England's new Copvid laws, which came into effect at 4am this morning, that say mask-wearing is mandatory in shops, supermarkets and public transport.
But the reaction from the panel was highly charged. Denise Welch said the pandemic has had a terrible effect on the country's mental health saying she'd spoken publically on her views about the pandemic since it began and asserting: "I will die on the mental health hill, but I will not die on the mask hill."
She went on to say: "Cloth masks, they're on the table, they're in our pocket, they fall down, we pick them up. They are about as much use the way most people use them as a chocolate fireguard."
She continued: "If we were all fitted with those really safe masks, that may be a different thing."
Ruth Langford said in response: "So it should be if you're vulnerable and you feel safer wearing a mask?"
To which Denise replied: "It's become a political thing, Ruth."
Janet Street Porter added: "We've got a Prime Minister who doesn't like wearing a mask."
Denise continued to argue for the mental health consequences she believes mask-wearing has had on the nation's children saying: "The vehement people who like masks, I have nothing against them but they say: 'It's only a mask'".
"Well, for children it's not only a mask, children rely on faces."
Coleen Nolan, however, said in response: "I have to believe the scientists and the doctors, I don't know enough myself."
And Janet was confused by the rules in general saying she'd been to the theatre last night where only a third of people wore masks and tonight she's out again: "The advice on what to do is changing by the minute."
Denise concluded the segment but saying: "There are children waiting on the mental health list. I'm so irate about it, I'm sorry."
